.......................................FORN SIÐR URÞANK..........................................
..........................Deep Thought about the Old Ways...................................
I am Siegfried Goodfellow, author of "Wyrd Megin Thew : The Wild, Wooly Strength of Heathen Ways". Heathenry is a fantastic contribution to a renewed spiritual culture. Ur-Thanc is thought/thank-fulness bubbling up from the primordial depths. All Material Copyright Siegfried Goodfellow.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Holy Intoxication

Intoxication is meant to be holy in our tradition, not desecrated. That is why Odin advises moderation in drink. Substances are meant to be teachers, not masters. They are powerful, and to be respected, not overdone --- which is very, very difficult in an alcoholic culture, and we live in an alcoholic culture.

An alcoholic culture is the result of two things, mainly, as I diagnose it : a refusal to honor Tyr, and a refusal to honor Freyr (and note, significantly, how Tyr defends Freyr in Lokasenna). We don't fight the battles we need to fight to be truly free, and then not being truly free, we lack joy and put too much burden on substances to make us feel better. Overburdened and thralled --- no matter how high the paycheck, one can still be a well-paid thrall if the burdens are chains --- we lose the ability to have fun.

Growing up in an en-thralled culture, a culture ruled by the giants, means that maturity is twisted into a denial of those abilities children spontaneously have --- play, joy, fun (Freyr qualities) --- and the culture compensates with chemicals.

But placing that high of a burden on chemicals pushes the chemicals over into side effects and addictions, making the original situation worse by adding illness on top of it.

In short, behaviorally, in our deeds -- which matters most -- we dishonor Odin, who won us the mead but advises moderation ; we dishonor Tyr, who would have us fight our real fight against tyranny ; we dishonor Freyr by not pursuing his wisdom on how to access childlike states from a mature position.

I don't want to insult anyone, but let's face facts and be truthful --- to have a mortgage is literally to be a thrall, a 30-year bondservant. It may be preferable to renting, no doubt, but it is not a state of full freedom as our ancestors saw it, nor does it approach allodial as our ancestors advised. We are burdened with tributes, taxes, and expenses that bind us far beyond our present capacities, and whatever the advantages of this clearly not-fully-satisfying option -- an option many choose for perception of a lack of better choices, it's also clear it makes being mature more of a burden than a fruition and fulfillment. What happened to the land in America which was supposed to have been restored from feudal status to full allodial rights after the Revolution? What have we, unjealous of Tyr's fierce warding of thew, allowed the lawyers and politicians to steal away from us in their gradual, obsfucating encroachments? And how has this robbery injured us? And do we fight back? Do we do the duties of Tyr? Do we look down our noses at activists while cheering on Imperial soldiers who have invaded a sovereign nation in the Middle East because we citizens foolishly believe that is heeding the call of the warrior rather than fulfilling the manipulations of Rome? The soldiers who go may go with honorable and even heroic intent, and their duty in service of that intent ought to be honored, but how honorable is a citizenry that will not fight for its rights?

The Gods have not allowed Jotunheim to encroach on Midgard ; we have. And worse, we often send our soldiers off to crush those who are -- unlike us -- trying to fight their battles. But rest assured, supporting such uncritical militarism will lead to a situation where those same soldiers will be used against us if we begin to fight our battles : labor history is full of such unfortunate realities built on the jotnar policies we ignorantly defend.

Alcoholism is the classic sign and after-effect of colonized peoples. When fair fight and ability to meet challenge with right effort and will has been frustrated beyond remedy, when existence itself is clearly burdensome, what fun but through escape? But while fun is very much encouraged from our Gods, escape (unless as a strategic retreat, as per Germania 6) is cowardice that ill befits the call of the warrior.

Do you think Tyr wants folks constantly on the battlefield? What insanity! He wants you to recognized the unmarked battlefield you're actually on, and to fight it there and fight it well. Where are you not standing up for yourself? Where are you running from a fight that could make a difference? Where the odds are too oppressive, how are you organizing to build your forces slowly and possibly secretly to be able to make a good engagement when the time comes Fight these battles, and the big wars will seldom have to come. Cowardice towards these battles means thralldom to legal, economic, and imperial burdens.

The Gods want us to experience intoxication -- there is no doubt about that, and even for those of us not natural poets through the gifts of sacred substances -- but only as whole, full, strong, and free people standing proud on our own two feet, enjoying and not running, and therefore able to be moderate.